Advocates continue push for passenger train

A three-year anniversary will be marked on July 15 but it's not one for celebration, says advocates of passenger rail service in Northern Ontario.

The day will mark the beginning of the third year without passenger train service from Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst and throughout the remote areas of the Algoma District.

The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains (CAPT) will mark the event on July 12 with an advocacy event to showcase evidence to disprove Transport Canada and the Minister of Transport's erroneous claim of existing public, safe and accessible alternative modes of transportation for people to reach destinations along the Algoma rail corridor.

Media will get an opportunity to travel along the “transportation alternative” which CAPT calls can inaccessible route leading into one of the communities along the Algoma rail line.

In fact, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Transport Marc Garenau have also been invited to attend the event – they have not yet responded – to demonstrate first hand the need for passenger rail service.

“This is going to be an opportunity for people to see these so-called road and experience them first hand,” said CAPT's co-chair Linda Savory-Gordon.

CAPT wants to convince the federal government, and especially Transport Canada, that it needs to do its research and investigation into the conditions of certain “roads” it claims are accessible while “one the ground.”

“Satellite imaging is not a way to plan ground transportation,” Savory-Gordon said. “A lot of these roads are private, are clearly marked with no trespassing signs and other are just not drivable, even on an ATV.”

Al Errington, also a co-chair of CAPT and operator of Errington's Wilderness Island, a remote outdoor vacation resort, said lodge owners like himself are finding the season difficult.

While Errington has retained a little more than half his guests with a fly-in float-plane options, others do not have such lake access and haven't been as lucky, he said.

“Really, the eco-tourism products we have are gone now because the train can't get our tourists up here,” he said.

And with the low Canadian dollar that is also used to attract American tourists looking for an outdoor or wilderness experience, the economic consequences on that aspect of the tourism economy is shot for another year.

“The whole assumption that people can drive in is totally false,” Errington said. “A lot of the so-called roads the government refers to are either washed out, are private or you just can't do it with the beaver ponds.”

Errington said the government has failed to talk to those who are affected the most and travel to the area to see first-hand what it offers and it doesn't.

“The government needs to make opportunity for people to create jobs and support ourselves,” he said.

Errington believes all governments have two mandates: to support broad opportunities and to protect citizens from abuse and exploitation.

In his view, they're not doing a great job on either.

“Transportation is a foundation for opportunity and more needs to be done. It's a basis for an economy and we need support from both levels of government,” he said.

Savory-Gordon said the lack of train transportation isolates people in the region and the negative economic consequences are real for the resort and lodge owners.

“It's just astounding to see that this could have been such a good tourism year for this area and without the transportation network, so many are hurting. It still baffles us,” she said.

While government is investing millions of dollars into high speed rail in southern Ontario and Montreal, Northern Ontario remains without any passenger train service, she said.

“Our request is one where a government investment will be paid back with growth in the tourist economy,” Savory-Gordon said.

Meanwhile, Chief Jason Gauthier of the Missanabie Cree First Nation is continuing his quest to operate the passenger train service.

Gauthier said the operation plan is almost complete. He's awaiting a final meeting date with CN Rail to get some information that it needs from them and once that occurs – he's hoping in the next few weeks – final information will be needed from Transport Canada.

“What we need is a re-commitment from both CN and the Ministry of Transportation,” he said.

Neither CAPT nor the Missanabie Cree First Nation plans on giving up its efforts to resume the passenger rail service.

The passenger train service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst came to a screeching halt in July 2015 after a selected operator was unable to meet the terms and conditions required in an operational agreement that had been inked between the various parties.

At that point, CN Rail said it would not resume passenger train operations despite repeated requests for limited service by the stakeholder group.

An economic impact study completed in 2014 showed that the federal government's $2.2 million annual investment resulted in an economic impact of $38 million to $48 million annually.

The study also showed the train supported between 170-220 jobs and generated more than $5 million in taxes.

In January 2014, the Conservative federal government announced it was withdrawing a $2.2 million annual subsidy for the passenger train service. As a result, CN Rail decided to discontinue the service.